Pax Ultima
by Clara Barton
Summary: They fought for peace, but peace took away what they loved the most. A very grim tale of suspense and betrayal, set post-canon and featuring character death.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I promised myself that I would update one chapter of Lost Dreams and one chapter of Pax Ultima, switching off. So no, I'm not abandoning Lost Dreams again so soon. I promise.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter One

Wufei answered promptly, of course, as he always did.

His face froze.

"Trowa."

"Wufei."

They stared at each other, and despite the fact that it was costing three dollars a minute to make this call, Trowa thought it was worth it. He hadn't seen Wufei in two years, and even though he had committed his face to memory, it wasn't the same.

"You look like shit."

Trowa felt his lips twitch.

It had been a mistake to sleep with Wufei in the first place, but by the time Trowa figured that out they had been fucking for six months. They were too alike - possessive, passive aggressive and damaged beyond measure. They only differed in their tempers - Wufei was always so quick to angry, ready to jump to conclusions and commit himself whereas Trowa, according to Wufei, only roused himself to care when someone murdered his best friend.

It had been a mistake, but it had felt so damn good, they way Wufei would fight against him - kissing a battle and fondling more like hand to hand combat until Trowa finally had him bent over and Wufei gave in, surrendering when Trowa's cock filled him and his eyes lost their anger and turned glassy and together they were consumed.

It had been a mistake, but it was over now - had been for two years. That didn't mean Trowa didn't look at Wufei's mouth and remember how well he sucked cock.

"You look the same," he told Wufei, unable to compliment him but too tired to lie.

Wufei arched an eyebrow, clearly waiting for Trowa to get to the point of this call.

"I found him."

Wufei's eyes widened, then narrowed to dangerous black slits.

"Where?"

"I've got him with me - on M238X."

Wufei looked away from the call screen for a moment and Trowa could hear him typing.

"I'm on the next shuttle out. I'll be there in sixteen hours. Wait for me."

Trowa rolled his eyes at the command and was tempted _not _to wait, just because Wufei gave him the instruction.

"Trowa."

He met Wufei's dark gaze, saw the burning passion, the anger, the rage that he felt deep in his gut.

"I'll wait," he promised before disconnecting the call.

He stared at the black screen for a moment and then sighed.

Wufei would be here in sixteen hours. Trowa had waited two years for revenge - he could wait a few more hours.

He rose from the bed and walked to the open door of the bathroom and leaned against the frame and regarded the scene before him.

A chair sat in the narrow bathtub, a tight enough fit that it rocked awkwardly but Trowa had made sure it wasn't likely to fall over, out of the tub.

He regarded the chair's occupant, a naked man with his hands and feet tied to the chairs and a gag in his mouth and a blindfold over his eyes.

Blood ran down one side of his head, from the cut on his forehead that mirrored the one on Trowa's - headbutting was as likely to hurt you as your opponent, they had both learned the hard way. His nose was broken, another trail of blood leading downwards and staining the white undershirt Trowa's had ripped apart to use as a gag. One of his eyes was already red and swollen under the other strip of undershirt that covered his eyes.

Trowa turned on the shower, cranking the water to the coldest setting, and took grim satisfaction in the way the naked man jumped as icy needles hit his flesh.

He watched the water wash away the blood and soak the man's hair, until the long, heavy braid was plastered against his chest.

It was small, petty. The kind of torture you teased your victim with.

It would have to be enough for now - but as soon as Wufei arrived, Trowa would be free to make sure that Duo Maxwell understood just how much pain his body could withstand before he was allowed to die.

Trowa doubted it would be enough - _no_ amount of pain would be enough for Trowa to feel satisfied.

But he would be content, with whatever he and Wufei managed to inflict, because giving Duo a slow, painful death was the the least they could to avenge Heero Yuy.

-o-


	2. Chapter 2

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Two

He was at a diner. Some cheap dive eating a cheap meal. Burned toast smeared with something brown, probably protein spread. Coffee black because he had never trusted the sweetness of sugar and didn't understand why people wanted creamer.

Sitting there. Eating. Alive and unconcerned that Trowa Barton walked into the diner with three knives, two guns and every intention of killing him.

Trowa sat down in the booth, across from him, and put his hands on the table.

Duo just grinned at him, took a moment to chuckle and then he continued eating.

Trowa waited until he finished and those seven minutes took more out of him than the last two years had.

Duo wiped his mouth with a napkin, took another sip of the coffee, draining it, and then wiped his mouth again before standing.

He stretched, long body and long limbs lean, just this side of malnourished, and he smirked at the way Trowa's eyes searched his body, checking for weapons, for weaknesses.

"If you're in the mood for a quick fuck, we can use the bathroom," Duo taunted him. "But if you want something more you're going to have to wait."

Trowa wasn't prepared to wait any longer than he already had.

He stood up, shoved a gun into Duo's spine hard enough to bruise and grabbed his hair tight enough to upset Duo's balance.

"Damn. You use this kind of foreplay with Wufei?" Duo leaned back, wiggled his ass against Trowa's groin and Trowa resisted the urge to kill him right there.

But it wouldn't be enough. Not nearly enough, not after what Duo had done. Not after what Trowa had lived through.

In the alleyway Duo fought, dirty and ruthless as always, and Trowa only just avoided a severed carotid and a perforated lung. But it was clear that Duo was tired, was weak and he was no match for Trowa's fury, for his determination and his need for vengeance.

The hotel was seedy enough that the proprietor only arched an eyebrow when Trowa carried in Duo's slumped body, one arm around his shoulders, limp feet dragging the ground.

He had more concern when Trowa came back a moment later and grabbed the folding chair by the front desk, but he remained silent.

Trowa stripped Duo with clinical detachment. He knew this man, knew this body, from years spent fighting together, working out together, showering side by side in the locker room and sharing private jokes in the med bay.

He made the knots tight, cutting into Duo's circulation and he left him on the chair, in the bathtub and he laid down on the bed in the next room and he felt a moment's peace for the first time in three years.

Not since before Catharine's death had he been able to close his eyes with ease. First it had been her, her face haunting him and then his, Heero's, the single, clean bullet hole in his temple and the dried, perfect circle of blood, the other half of his head, missing almost completely.

Trowa was used to death. He had grown up with it, he had perfected it. But that had been before, his previous life, his _job_. Catharine wasn't supposed to die. She was supposed to be the one who lived - the one who knew what peace tasted like so Trowa had a reason to keep fighting.

And Heero.

When Heero died, peace had ended for everyone. Not just for Trowa.

He had always known Duo was a thief, he'd never needed proof. Never wanted to have something so precious taken from him.


	3. Chapter 3

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Three

"Should we dry him off?"

Trowa arched an eyebrow, let Wufei take in the scabs forming on his cheek, his lip, his forehead.

He tossed a towel at Wufei.

"Knock yourself out." He dared him.

Wufei gripped the towel tightly and then, with an irritated sigh, threw it at their soaked, shivering prisoner.

"How long have you had him in here?"

Trowa checked his watch.

"Twenty eight hours."

It was Wufei's turn to arch an eyebrow. It had only taken him sixteen hours to get there. The other twelve hours, hours when Trowa had stared at the naked man who had once been a friend, hours when Trowa had laid out his knives, the one from Heero, the one he had long ago filched from Catharine, the one he had taken from the dead body of the merc captain who had raised him, hours when Trowa had remembered Heero, alive, choosing Duo over him. Hours that were unaccounted for.

"He must be hungry," Wufei concluded and Trowa imagined that even Duo looked surprised by the words.

Trowa wasn't shocked by the swiftness of his anger.

If Duo was feeling a bit peckish after being tied to a chair for twenty eight hours it didn't fucking matter.

"Better for his stomach to be empty anyway," Trowa snarled. "Less of a mess when he finally goes."

Now it was Duo and Wufei who wore matching looks of deep concern about the fact that Trowa would know, would even consider it.

Wufei jerked his head, motioning for Trowa to join him outside of the bathroom and Trowa followed him reluctantly. What did it matter if they moved out of earshot? Soon enough, whatever Duo knew and heard, would be nothing.

"Can you do this?" Wufei asked him.

Trowa stared at him.

"Can I kill the man who murdered Heero? Yes. I can do that. Can you?"

Wufei scoffed. He always hated it when Trowa questioned him, despised it when his questions were turned back at him.

"Of course I can."

"Then what the fuck are we talking about?"

Wufei stared at him, dark eyes searching for something that Trowa knew he would never find.

"I want to know why he did it," Wufei finally said.

"He did it because he's a fucking psychopath," Trowa growled, furious at this delay. _This _was why he should never have called Wufei, should never had wasted those twelve hours before giving in and making the vid call. Wufei needed proof, needed to _know_. He needed reason and logic and Trowa knew there was none.

"You respected him, once," Wufei reminded Trowa softly, his words bringing back memories of chess games, late at night, on Peacemillion during the war, in the mess hall at Preventers headquarters after, in the med bay while they recovered from injuries sustained in the line of duty.

Yes. Trowa had respected him once. But that had been before.

"You never forgave him. I knew it."

Trowa closed his eyes. This was _not _the fucking time for this.

"Wufei -"

"You never understood why Heero chose him over you and that's what _this_ is about," Wufei snarled.

"This is about the fact that he murdered a man who saved _both_ of our lives more times than we can count." Twenty three times, by Trowa's estimation, if he considered specific incidents. But it was impossible to account for the impact Heero had had - on the Earthsphere, on peace, on the Preventers protocols. It was impossible to calculate his value.

"A man you never stopped loving."

Wufei's voice was raw and Trowa wanted to hurt him, wanted to yell and push and he wanted to be free of this shit - of the weight and the darkness but Wufei _never_ let him.

"You never forgave Duo for taking him from you the first time. You never forgave Heero for making the wrong choice. You've never forgiven yourself for not being there, not being the one with him, not being able to keep him alive. You wouldn't have murdered him, and you hate yourself because you weren't enough for him and he chose Duo."

This was the fight they had never had. The words that had driven Trowa to leave as soon as Heero's body was in the ground, as soon as the first data, the first ghost of Duo had been found. This was why Trowa had twelve hours, unaccounted for.

Because he needed Wufei to do this. Because he wasn't enough. He never had been, and he needed Wufei to help him kill Duo. Heero had chosen Duo, had chosen the man who killed him and Trowa was unable to take that away. He couldn't kill the man Heero had chosen.

Wufei touched him, his hands firm, his fingers warm and callused and the weight digging into his shoulders, reminding him to breathe.

"I want to know why he did it. And then I will kill him."

Wufei's eyes held his, forcing him to acknowledge the words, the weight, the darkness.

Trowa nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Four

Wufei shed his jacket, revealing a form fitting, black mock turtleneck and Trowa had to stare.

It was his. Wufei preferred low necks - crew cuts and v-necks and when the Preventers had issued the back shirts Wufei had promptly cut off the necks and resewn them, ignoring Duo's jibes about being a good housewife. But Trowa had always liked the high necks, the tight fit, they way the shirt hid his scars and made him have to focus on breathing, sometimes, if the shirt had just been washed and was too tight.

Wufei returned his stare.

Trowa gave up. He had only ever understood Wufei when they were both naked and fighting for release. He never knew what he was thinking, what he was feeling unless he could touch his cock.

He walked back into the bathroom, sitting on the toilet so he was eye level with Duo and he ripped off the gag and the blindfold.

Duo blinked, wincing against the harsh light and his swollen eye and the blood that had dried since the last time Trowa had soaked him.

"Good to see you again," Duo quipped and Trowa punched him, lashing out fast enough to surprise both of them.

Duo rocked back with the force, the chair almost tipping over, and his head banged back against the shower wall.

He grinned, mouth and teeth and lips dark with blood, and spat a mouthful out into the bathtub.

"Didn't we just do this? Like yesterday?"

Trowa resisted the urge to hit him again. It was what Duo wanted, and he'd be damned if he gave Duo _anything_ else that he wanted.

"Nice shirt," Duo said, addressing Wufei, changing tactics, his target still Trowa.

Wufei sneered and Duo chuckled.

"D'you save it? Hide it from Tro when he packed his shit and came after me? Kind of funny, dontcha think? First Heero picks me and you get Tro, then _Tro_ picks me and you get -"

It was Wufei who attacked, shocking Trowa and clearly amusing Duo, who laughed once he regained his wind, recovered from the vicious kicks to his ribs and his groin.

"Fellas. I know you've wanted me for a _long_ time," Duo tried to slouch, tried to look seductive and impossibly managed to look it, tied up, naked, soaked and bleeding. "But let's take our time. I promise it's better if we draw it out a little. You know that Tro. You know how much Heero liked to take it slow - take his time with his fingers and -"

Trowa had to right the chair, had to balance the unconscious weight of Duo's body and his hands slipped and he dropped the chair again, where it had fallen over with the force of his blow the first time. Wufei had to help him stand it back up.

Trowa turned the shower back on, back to the coldest setting, and a moment later Duo jerked, alert and in pain.

"Why did you do it?" Wufei asked, his voice as cold and empty as space and Trowa resisted the urge to lean back, to lean against him, because that comforted him beyond measure.

"Do what?" Duo teased, tongue licking his lips before he spat out more blood. He shook his head, trying to move his wet bangs and Trowa saw him wince. He hoped he had a concussion, the kind of slow brain bleed that made thinking painful and his sight fuzzy.

"Why did you kill Heero Yuy?" Wufei ground out.

"Why d'ya think?" Duo smirked, leaning as far forward as his bonds would let him. He spat a mouthful of water and blood onto Trowa's face. "Wouldn't you like to know? Not much you ever did know, is there, Tro? Not much outside of military tactics. Sure as shit ya don't know about emotions. About life and fucking and how to make Heero -"

Wufei hauled him out of the room, slammed the bathroom door shut and shoved Trowa towards the bed.

"Breathe," Wufei instructed and his hands were on either side of Trowa's face, holding him, trapping him, forcing him to look in those bottomless black eyes that saw everything and _knew_ everything he had ever tried to hide.

"Fucking him isn't going to make him get it, Fei!" Duo shouted from the bathroom. "Maybe if you do it dry! Bend him over the desk and shove it up his ass and make him cry!"

Wufei stepped away, went back into the bathroom and Trowa listened to the roar of his blood, felt his lungs struggle to draw in oxygen. There was the sound of a body hitting the tub, the chair a harsh thud, Duo swearing and laughing.

"Put your fucking hands up."

Trowa felt his entire body tense, felt his blood freeze and his stomach clench.

"Fucking do it, Trowa."

He complied and turned, slowly, wishing he didn't have to see it.

Duo stood in the door to the bathroom, one arm wrapped around Wufei's neck, the other holding Wufei's service revolver against the Preventer's head. There was blood on Duo's face, on his wrists and ankles and the hand holding the gun but his voice was steady, his eyes deadly.

"That your kit, Wufei?" Duo asked, nodding towards the black duffel bag on the bed.

Wufei remained silent and Duo dug his fingers into his neck, a pressure point that _Wufei_ had shown him once, years ago, when working out at the gym together had been the only way to stay sane.

"Yes," Trowa answered for him.

Duo smirked, his teeth red.

"Grab the zip ties."

Trowa complied without argument.

"Do your feet first. Then your hands - behind your fucking back."

Trowa fumbled, clumsy with fear and his eyes burned but he followed the orders.

Duo pulled back the gun and then hit Wufei with enough force to knock him out before binding him as well.

Trowa watched, unable to process just how fucked up this had become.

Duo dumped out the duffel bag, set the gun down and pulled on the clothes, the spare Preventers uniform that Wufei had packed, and then grinned when he found a laptop.

"Well, looks like I didn't waste my time with you after all," Duo muttered and blew Trowa a kiss, a spatter of blood flying in his direction.

Duo spent a good half hour tapping at the keys and by the time he was done Wufei was rousing, shifting, testing his bonds.

"Well, this has been a _lot_ of fun. I keep saying we should have a reunion or something but I dunno, you two just don't… you're just not the type of assholes I'd like to spend my time with these days."

Duo leveled the gun at Wufei and Trowa reacted without thought, throwing his body down on the other man.

Duo's blue eyes narrowed and he swallowed hard before looking away.

"Yeah, you two take care now."

And with that, he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Five

"Hold still."

Trowa smoothed back Wufei's hair and dabbed at the cut on his forehead with a wet towel. Wufei winced and tried to flinch away again, but Trowa tightened his grip on his jaw to keep him in place.

Wufei's dark eyes were narrowed and filled with anger and self-recrimination.

The cut would need stitches, but Trowa doubted Wufei had thought to bring a first aid kit with him.

"When you get back to Earth get this looked at," he instructed.

Wufei's dark glare shifted to him.

"I'm not going back."

Trowa stared.

Two years ago Wufei had called him an idiot, a blind fool setting off on a suicide mission.

"You said no," Trowa reminded him.

"That was before," Wufei growled.

Trowa gentled his grip on Wufei's face, ghosted his fingers across his cheek and Wufei leaned into the touch.

It wasn't the right time, sure as hell wasn't the right place - but then, it never was for them.

"I don't have any lube," Trowa told him.

"Then go slow," Wufei ordered.

Trowa hadn't fucked anyone in two years, not since leaving Wufei to search for Heero's murderer, and the memory of Wufei's body, his embrace, had haunted Trowa since.

He stripped him with care, avoiding the wound on his head and the red, swollen skin on his side where Duo had clearly injured him.

Wufei's body was the same dangerous, lean weapon it had always been. Golden and taunt, his hips sharp and his muscles tense.

Trowa pulled his own clothes off carelessly, tossing them on the floor and then picking Wufei up, and pushed him against the nearest wall.

Wufei wrapped his legs around Trowa's hips, hitching himself up and they kissed.

It was the same war between them, the same battle for control they had been fighting since their first kiss, that first fight when Wufei called him an idiot and suggested he get the fuck over Heero Yuy because Heero had clearly gotten over him.

Wufei's hands clenched around his shoulders, fingers digging into his flesh and Trowa accepted it, the discomfort and the pain. It was never easy with Wufei.

He used spit to prepare him, teasing his rim and then forcing first one, then two fingers into his tight entrance.

Wufei hissed in pain when Trowa replaced the fingers with his cock and Trowa tried to go slow, tried to take his time sinking into that hot, tight sheath.

"Hold still," he ordered when Wufei shifted, heels digging into Trowa's ass and pulling him in further.

"Just fuck me already," Wufei snapped and Trowa let his anger, his always present rage, take over and he thrust upwards, sharp and deep and Wufei swore.

Trowa continued, merciless, burying himself inside Wufei until he came, until he fight the spasm of Wufei's own climax and felt the hot spill of his release.

Even then, it wasn't enough.

He held Wufei against him, tried not to let his despair show in his face.

"I'm not going anywhere," Wufei told him, knowing. Always knowing.

Trowa leaned his forehead against Wufei's and he closed his eyes and tried not to think about Duo leveling a gun at Wufei, tried to forget the fear that had nearly paralyzed him.


	6. Chapter 6

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Six

"He spent half an hour on my computer and did nothing."

Trowa looked over at Wufei, naked except for his boxers and sitting cross-legged on the bed.

"He spent half an hour on it. He did _something_."

Wufei looked up from his laptop to scowl at Trowa.

"He didn't access any of my files. Nothing on the Preventers server. He didn't _do_ anything."

"Let me see."

Wufei heaved an angry sigh.

"Your computer skills almost exactly match mine. If _I_ can't find his activity, you won't either. Only -" Wufei caught himself.

"Only Heero was better at hacking than Duo?" Trowa supplied.

Wufei shoved the laptop at him, half in apology, half in a non-verbal 'fuck off'.

"He didn't access anything," Trowa agreed ten minutes later.

"Thank you for that confirmation. It's a good fucking thing I had you here to tell me what I already -"

"No," Trowa interrupted him, tuning out the start of Wufei's rant. "He didn't access any of _your_ files or anything from the Preventers server - but he accessed something."

He turned the computer so that Wufei could see the data log.

"A remote server?"

"Yes - and look at the amount of data he downloaded. He left _something_ on your computer."

Wufei took it back, handling it with care, as though it were a bomb that could explode at any minute. Considering that it had been Duo who had tampered with it, Trowa wasn't willing to rule out that possibility.

"Don't open it," Trowa warned when Wufei's fingers rested on the keys.

Wufei glared at him.

"Again. Thank you for reminding me how to use my brain," he snarled.

Trowa sighed. The blissful reprieve they experienced after sex had faded an hour ago, and he had been treated to Wufei's typical passive-aggressive bullshit since then.

"I recognize that server address," Trowa said and frowned, trying to recall _how_ he knew it.

"It's a WEI server," Trowa realized.

Wufei arched an eyebrow.

"Duo accessed one of Quatre's servers to download a virus onto my computer?"

"I don't know."

Duo could have used any server to do that - could have just coded one in the time he took to download whatever he had from the remote server. Why Quatre?

"He's planning something," Wufei decided. "Something that involves Quatre."

"Why would he leave us that clue?"

"What if he didn't intend to?"

Trowa arched an eyebrow. Duo might appear careless, but Trowa was willing to bet their entire encounter had been calculated. It filled him with cold fury, to know that Duo had used him - used him to get to Quatre.

"I should warn him."

Wufei sighed.

"I have a friend who can look over this and tell me what it is."

"You mean you fucked someone who can look at it," Trowa translated.

Wufei glared.

"I wasn't a virgin when we met, Barton, and neither were you."

A fair point, but Trowa wasn't running to a former lover for help. And Trowa wasn't the one Duo had pointed a gun at.

"If you tell me to be careful I will rip your arm off and beat you to death with it," Wufei warned.

Trowa had to work to keep from smiling.

"You can try," he said once he could keep his face straight.


	7. Chapter 7

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Seven

Sixteen checkpoints later, Trowa sat across from Quatre in his office headquarters on an L4 colony that, despite said checkpoints, looked luxurious and untouched by the riots that plagued the rest of the colonies.

"You look terrible, you aren't sleeping," Quatre said, his voice sad and condescending. Remarkable that in the twelve years Trowa had known him he had changed so very little.

"I haven't slept well for as long as I can remember," Trowa murmured.

Quatre sighed.

"I'm sorry, Trowa. I'm sorry about Catharine and Heero. I - I wish there was something I could do to help you. I hate to see you like this."

Trowa hadn't been exaggerating - he literally could not remember having ever slept well, as far back as his memory would allow. Still it was irrational to be angry with Quatre for not understanding that. He was only trying to help, only trying to be sympathetic.

"I found Duo."

Quatre's blue eyes sharpened and his mouth snapped shut.

"Did you… did you kill him?"

Quatre had been there with him, the day Une had shown him Heero's corpse and informed Trowa that Duo had been the one to murder him. Quatre had heard Trowa's quiet oath to avenge his former comrade, his former lover.

"No," Trowa admitted. "He… escaped."

Quatre frowned.

"I - I know how much you want to bring him to justice for what he did."

"Justice? There is no justice for what he did. The riots were bad enough before Heero died - but for the last two years - how many people have died Quatre? Is his death going to be justice for that?"

Quatre sighed.

"My point exactly. Have you ever considered just… forgetting about him? Moving on?"

Trowa stared at him. He didn't understand what Quatre could possibly mean by those words.

"If you really want justice - think of all the good you can do in this world, in Heero's memory. You can -"

"I don't want justice, Quatre. I want revenge."

"That won't bring him back. It won't _change_ anything."

Of course Quatre didn't understand, wouldn't understand.

"I'm trying to make a difference, Trowa. My company is working on projects to make the future different - to make sure this never happens again."

Trowa arched an eyebrow at that.

"You're making it possible to stop murderous psychopaths from ever happening again?"

Quatre gave him a look.

"Yes. In a manner of speaking."

Trowa sighed. Quatre was so blind, so naive - he thought a few charity hospitals and schools could change humanity.

But Quatre had reminded Trowa of the reason he went through the hassle and expense of travelling here in the first place.

"I think Duo is planning something that involves you," he told Quatre.

Quatre arched an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair.

"What makes you say that?"

Trowa sighed.

"I'm not entirely sure. But he accessed one of your remote servers."

"How?"

This was just embarrassing.

"Wufei's computer."

"Wufei - Wufei was there too?"

Trowa nodded miserably.

"And he - oh Trowa. I'm sorry."

Trowa sighed.

"I'm going to find him again, Quatre."

"I'm sure you will," Quatre placated him and then frowned. "What about Wufei's computer? Whatever Duo did to it - he might have loaded a virus onto it or -"

"We're concerned about that too. Wufei's laptop has access to secure Preventers servers and databases."

"Have him bring it here, to my technicians. We can figure out what Duo did and maybe use it to trace him."

It was odd, Trowa thought now, that that hadn't been their first instinct. Of course Quatre had the money and the staff to be able to figure out what Duo had done.

But Wufei's first instinct had been to take it to someone else.

Why?

-o-


	8. Chapter 8

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Eight

"What the hell, Wufei?"

The dark eyed man sighed.

"I owe you an apology."

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"You owe me a few hundred credits - you just had me check into a hotel on another colony before sneaking out, smuggling myself on board a shuttle and climbing up a _trash chute_ to get to you."

Wufei winced.

"I wasn't speaking about that. But - do you want to take a shower?"

Trowa glared at him, at the way Wufei's nose wrinkled at the stench of decomposing organic matter, at his eyes narrowed as they took in the stains on Trowa's clothes.

"Do you have anything for me to wear?" Trowa asked him.

Wufei nodded.

Trowa sighed in resignation. It wasn't as if he _wanted_ to stand there and fight while he smelled like garbage, but something was clearly going on that Wufei wanted to put of telling him - something that meant taking extra precautions with their movements. Considering Wufei's well-documented disdain for espionage and secrecy, Trowa knew this was something serious.

He showered, angrily scrubbing his body and hair and praying fervently that there had been nothing hazardous in the garbage - considering this was one of the more run down quarters of the colony, he thought it unlikely if not outright impossible for their not to have been _something_ dangerous in the garbage he had exposed himself to.

When he stepped out of the shower he was confronted with a pair of black cargo pants, black sweater and black boxer briefs. _His _clothes. Clothes he thought he had packed when he left Earth two years ago but had later discovered he hadn't. Clothes Wufei had kept.

Trowa smelled them. They even smelled like Wufei, like that sharp, fragrance free detergent he used.

Trowa put on the clothes and tried not to think too much on them. But it was hard not to.

Wufei didn't like clutter, he didn't like mementos, he didn't like to think on the past. But he had kept one of Trowa's service issue shirts and these clothes. It made absolutely no fucking sense.

He came out of the bathroom and found Wufei sitting at the desk in the hotel room in front of his laptop.

A file was open and Trowa looked at it as he approached.

It was a data folder, a huge one judging by the size of the scroll bar. Files were labelled in numbers - they looked to be time and date stamps. Most of them were from a little over two years ago.

"What is that?" He asked.

Wufei turned and sighed.

"First. That apology."

Trowa scowled.

"If this is about you not coming with me the first time, it doesn't -"

"No," Wufei interrupted him. "This is about me not going with Heero and Duo when they asked me to help them find out who killed your sister."


	9. Chapter 9

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Nine

Trowa remembered the way he had felt when Une had called him into her office and informed him of Heero's death.

He had forgotten how to breathe, had staggered backwards as though he had been shot, and only Wufei's fingers digging into his shoulder, clawing at him, dragging him back to reality, had kept him from falling down.

Duo had been the one to tell him about Catharine's death. Duo had been walking past the intel bay he claimed, snooping more likely, looking for a juicy case he could get himself assigned to that didn't involve babysitting duty, and he had heard the call come in, the reports of the riots on L 3458. Duo had told him, had held him while Trowa struggled to piece together the words, the idea - Catharine. Dead.

Trowa had forgotten about that, had blocked out almost everything that had happened that week for the longest time - had chosen not to remember Duo's comfort or Duo's presence at the bar that night and the two nights after as Trowa drank himself into a blackout night after night. He had chosen not to remember the way Duo stood on one side of him during the funeral and Heero, still Trowa's lover then, on his other.

And then Heero had left, only two weeks later he and Duo had left on a mission and when they came back, two months later, Trowa knew something had changed. Heero lingered at the office every night, wandered to Duo's cubicle on his breaks to talk and started sparring with Duo in the gym, an activity they had avoided for at least three years, ever since Heero pulled on Duo's braid and Duo broke his wrist.

It wasn't until a month after that, however, that Trowa had known what precisely had changed, had seen Duo run his hand down the side of Heero's face in the locker room and watched Heero capture his hand and kiss it.

Trowa had packed his things that night and moved back on base. He had ignored Heero when he tried to talk to him about it, had punched Duo in the throat when _he_ tried to talk to him about it and happily taken the two week leave of absence Une slapped him with for it.

Duo and Heero had been assigned to another mission together after that, a mission that Heero had never come back from. A mission that had ended with Duo putting a bullet through his skull.


	10. Chapter 10

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Ten

"What do you mean, they asked you to go with them and help find out who killed my sister?"

Wufei met his gaze and Trowa knew it was bad. Wufei was the king of passive aggressive tactics - if he was looking at Trowa like this now it meant that Trowa was going to be very, very upset by whatever he had to say.

"Before they left on their last mission - before… before," he concluded, and Trowa wondered over the hesitation.

"Before Duo murdered Heero," Trowa supplied.

Wufei sighed.

"Before Heero died," he allowed and Trowa was brought up short.

"What?"

Wufei held up a hand.

"Before that mission, they came to me and asked me to go with them. They had intel on your sister's death."

"Catharine died in the riots. The entire colony - everyone died when the rioters breached the contaminant facility."

"Heero didn't think so, and I thought he was paranoid - hell, Heero was _always_ paranoid. But Duo agreed with him and they engineered some fake mission as cover so they could investigate it. They wanted me to go with them."

"Why didn't you?"

Wufei gave him a look.

"Because I thought Heero was paranoid and I was furious with Duo for screwing over his best friend and I thought they were wrong."

Trowa was finding all of this extremely difficult to wrap his head around.

Wufei sighed.

"They were right. Your sister didn't die in the riots. There never was a riot on L 3458."

"What?"

"The contaminant facility breach was a cover, a brilliant cover really - but it was a lie. The colonists were all exposed to a gas, some kind of neurotoxin and it killed all of them in a matter of hours, days for some - weeks for one."

"What - how do you _know_ this?"

Wufei tapped the computer screen.

"That data package Duo downloaded onto my computer. That last mission, he and Heero - they found out who was behind it, who killed Catharine."

Nothing was making sense anymore to Trowa.

Wufei was still staring at him, his black gaze without end or mercy.

"Trowa. There's more."

"What more could there possibly be?" Trowa snarled.

"Duo didn't murder Heero."


	11. Chapter 11

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Eleven

Heero was naked, his lean body strapped to an exam table and his arms, legs and neck held down with steel braces.

"Patient 8725 what do you feel?"

"I feel nothing." Heero's voice was a flat monotone.

He had never had much inflection, never had the lively candor of Quatre or Duo or the seething rage of Wufei or even Trowa's ever present sarcasm to color his words. But after he had self-destructed, after he had gone on his mission for redemption, there had been emotion in his voice, meaning behind his words.

It was all gone now. His blue gaze was unseeing, unfeeling.

The robed and masked lab technician pulled the knife out of Heero's leg and a rush of crimson followed.

"Patient 8725 what do you feel now?"

"I feel nothing."

"You must feel something," the technician insisted.

"Stimulation. Neurological response to stimulation." Heero sounded like a machine.

"And what is the response? Fear? Anger? Pain?"

"Nothing. I feel no emotion."

The technician turned to face the cameras.

"Commencing with Phase Four of the test. I will now remove the Patient's restraints."

One by one, he unlocked the restraints until Heero was free. But he didn't move.

The technician picked up the knife again, and Heero's eyes tracked its movement as it pierced his other leg.

He made no move to pull the knife out himself. No move to strike back or flee. He made no move at all.

"Patient 8725. What do you feel now?"

"Nothing," Heero repeated yet again.

The technician once again turned to the camera.

"As testing indicates, we have successfully surpassed the sympathetic nervous systems' mechanisms for the fight or flight responses. Patient 8725 demonstrates no desire to remove himself from pain or any desire for revenge. Recommend that we continue testing in the advanced phases."

The video feed abruptly cut out and Trowa was faced with a black screen.

"What the hell is this?" He asked. He couldn't - he didn't understand what he was seeing.

Beside him, Wufei stood up and started to pace.

Despite the fact that he was disturbed as hell by what he had seen, Trowa had enough presence of mind to register that - Wufei pacing - and enough coherent thought to know that it meant very bad things.

Wufei prided himself on self-restraint, on containment of emotions and movement. Pacing, like fucking, only happened when he couldn't hold himself in check any longer.

"This is Pax Ultima. This is… this is what killed Catharine and all of those others."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twelve

"Pax Ultima."

Wufei nodded.

"Are you familiar with Futurum?"

Trowa frowned. The name tugged at him - he had seen it somewhere before… on billboards and digital adverts?

"The pharmaceutical company?"

Wufei nodded again.

"Yes. They've been around for nearly fifty years. They developed the plague vaccine about twenty years ago, and they've had their hand in most of the vaccines and disease treatments affecting the colonies. This," Wufei gestured to the black screen, "is their latest effort."

"But what _is_ it?" Trowa had to ask again. His brain felt sluggish, as if there were twenty points right in front of him that all connected to answer everything, but he couldn't get the image of Heero's lifeless eyes out of his mind.

"The Ultimate Peace. The Final Peace. It's a drug therapy they've been working on. Essentially, the therapy floods your brain with serotonin and changes the way your amygdalae respond to stress and emotions. As you saw, it removes all desire for aggression, anger, pain or fear."

"But why?"

Wufei sighed and reached past Trowa to click open another file.

"You can read here - their mission statement of the drug, their philosophy - it's all garbage. The goal is to prevent all future wars and aggression by turning humanity into sheep, mindless, weak sheep that are simply herded from one place to another."

Trowa leaned forward and forced himself to concentrate, forced himself to try to make sense of this.

"No," he argued. "Not all humanity - just the colonists." He tapped the screen. "Look at that time stamp. This mission statement was released thirty years ago."

Wufei arched an eyebrow, and Trowa was reminded that they had had very different upbringings.

"Twenty-five years ago was the height of the plague outbreak on the colonies - in the L2 and L3 sectors."

"I know that. What does that have to do with -"

"Look at these transmission notes," Trowa tapped the screen. "Environmental control systems - air and waterborne drugs."

Wufei frowned.

"The plague came in two forms - airborne and waterborne."

"That still doesn't -"

"Serotonin." Trowa interrupted him and he had a fleeting thought _I wouldn't have to explain this to Duo_. He quickly and angrily shoved that away, but it teased at him. Duo -

"What about the serotonin?" Wufei asked, his teeth gritted, angry with Trowa and himself for not understanding, for needing the explanation.

Trowa clicked through the file until he found the document he knew would explain the connection.

"Look at the chemical makeup of this therapy. You said yourself the goal was to flood the brain with serotonin, to remove the desire for aggression."

"Yes…"

"What did all plague victims have in common?"

Wufei scowled and Trowa realized the Chinese man had likely gone down an economic-socio-political path in his brain.

"What one thing did all of their bodies have in common when they were examined?" Trowa clarified.

"I'm assuming raised serotonin levels."

Trowa nodded.

"Yes." He held up his fingers to tick off points. "Thirty years ago they release this mission statement. Twenty five years ago the plague begins to devastate L2 and L3. Twenty years ago they release their miracle vaccine."

"And two years ago they tried again on L3458. That doesn't explain the eighteen years in between when _nothing_ happened. Those were some of the worst times - OZ, the Alliance, the _wars_."

Trowa nodded in agreement. It didn't make sense to him either, but as he looked over the project notes he didn't recognize any of the names associated with it.

"We need to see financial records for Futurum," he decided.

Wufei put his hand over Trowa's on the mousepad.

"You need to watch two other vids first."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex, some non-con referenced in this chapter.

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Thirteen

He was still naked, his body covered with electrodes and wires, sensors to monitor him. The cuts on his legs had healed somewhat. Time had passed.

"Patient 8725 has responded well to initial physical stimuli. Our research indicates that he falls within the acceptable percentile for non-aggressive responses. Today we will begin testing responses to emotional and intellectual stimuli. Past research indicates that these are more difficult to overcome."

It was the same tech, with the same dry delivery, the same anonymous face.

He approached Heero and held a datapad in front of him.

The pad was clearly playing a video - light illuminated Heero's face and low audio could be heard in the background.

Heero's emotionless eyes were fixed on the screen.

The indistinct audio was punctuated by a few moans and erotic groans and Heero became erect, his only physical response to the video.

"Patient 8725, what are you watching?"

"A vid." Heero's voice was that same emotionless monotone again.

"A vid of _what_ 8725? A vid of _who_?"

Heero remained silent.

"Patient 8725, what does it make you feel?"

"Nothing," Heero said.

"What are your emotions for the subject? How do you feel about him?"

"I feel nothing for the subject. I have no emotions for him."

"But you did?"

"Yes."

"What were those emotions?"

Heero fell silent again.

The tech turned towards the surveillance cameras.

"Patient 8725 demonstrates emotional and intellectual resistance. His physical arousal likely has an emotional component. We have obtained surveillance footage of his former partner performing sexual acts under the guise of a prostitute."

The tech took away the datapad.

Heero's erection subsided slowly.

When he was once again flaccid, the tech returned the datapad to him.

It was a different video. Different groans. Muffled curses. An agonized shout.

"Patient 8725, what are you watching?"

"A vid," Heero started the refrain again.

"When was the vid recorded?" The tech clearly didn't want to go through the same dead-end dialogue again.

"During the war."

"Where?"

"An Alliance detention center. On the moon."

"Do you recognize anyone?"

Another agonized shout, followed by a rough sob over the audio.

"Yes."

"_Who_?"

"My partners."

The tech turned towards the camera, as if to say 'now we're getting somewhere.'

"And what is happening in the vid?"

Heero remained silent.

"Is it an interrogation?"

"No," Heero said quickly. "No questions are being asked."

"Then what is it?"

"Punishment. Torture."

"Rape?"

"Yes."

"And how does that make you feel? Seeing one of your partners do that to the other?"

"I feel nothing."

"What did you feel for them?"

Heero closed his eyes and let the datapad fall from his grasp. It landed on his thighs, the screen visible to the surveillance camera.

It was Duo, Duo the fifteen year old terrorist who had been captured by Trowa, and he was naked from the waist down. His manacled hands were held high above his head and he was pressed against the wall of a cell, held down by Trowa as another Alliance officer raped him, followed by another, followed by another.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Fourteen

Heero was in the same room again, and enough time had passed for the cuts on his legs to become thin, dark scabs. He was still naked, still unrestrained, his eyes still emotionless.

"Patient 8725 has been given additional treatments targeted at his emotional and intellectual barriers. Today we will -"

The tech was interrupted by the door opening and another technician entering.

He wore the same white lab coat over blue scrubs, the same surgical mask over his face, but his hair - his hair was a long braid that trailed down his back.

"Who are you? You don't have authorization to be in here. Who is your superior? I will call him and -"

"My superior is the God of Death, and don't worry about making any calls. You're going to be speaking with him in person presently."

He pulled off his mask, revealing his face, at the same time that he drew a gun from the small of his back.

The tech held his hands up and started to back away in fear, but Duo didn't hesitate at all. He depressed the trigger, three times, and the tech fell to the floor.

Through it all, Heero didn't move.

Duo surveyed the room and started to rifle through the cabinets.

"Gotta find you some clothes and then we are out of here, Heero. I'm sorry it took me so long. The fucking Preventers are -"

"Duo."

The braided man paused, his fingers clenching on the cabinet door he had opened as he reacted to his name said without emotion.

"Yeah, 'Ro? Any stops we need to make on our way out? Any favors you want to return?"

"Leave me."

Duo stood and turned in one angry, fluid motion.

"_No._"

"Leave me."

"I'm not fucking leaving you here. The security is crap - I got in and we're going to get out and I'm not going to _leave_ you. I'm sorry it took me six months. I - I'm fucking sorry, 'Ro. Whatever they did, we're going to fix it. You're going to be fine and we're going to get the fuck out of here."

"They killed me, Duo. They took - they took everything away. I'm nothing."

"Don't fucking _say_ that, 'Ro!" Duo crossed to the table and pulled Heero against him in a fierce hug. "Don't fucking say that. Please." Duo sounded desperate, his voice brittle and his grip around Heero's shoulders strong enough that veins stood out on his arms and hands.

"I'm nothing," Heero repeated, his voice still completely without emotion.

"You're Heero Yuy," Duo said. He pulled back and shook Heero's shoulders until he looked him in the eye. "You're Heero Fucking Yuy. You're the Perfect Soldier. You've survived self-destructing your Gundam, two wars, Wufei's cooking - _Relena_'s birthday parties. You're going to survive this shit too. This is nothing compared to -"

"I feel nothing. They took everything away."

"They tried to but we can -"

"I am nothing, Duo. I feel nothing." He said again.

Through all of it, Heero's voice remained level, that same deadly, emotionless monotone.

Duo gave a frustrated growl and then kissed him, roughly pressing his lips against Heero's.

"You felt that, didn't you? Come on, 'Ro. You told me never to kiss you again - you know - you know you're pissed, right?" Duo's voice broke. "Please. Punch me. Tell me you don't want me. Tell me -"

"I don't want you. I don't want anything or anyone. I want nothing."

"What about Trowa? Come on. Let me take you back to him. You want Trowa, 'Ro. You want his hands and his mouth and his body - 'Ro, think about his smile. Think about his laugh. That makes you feel, doesn't it?"

"No." Heero took the gun from Duo's waistband. "I feel nothing. They took all of it away."

"Heero - give me back the fucking gun! I -"

Duo struggled to wrestle the gun from Heero, but the short haired man held him off calmly, using one hand to push Duo away from the exam table while he stood up on the other side.

"Heero, _please!_" Duo was openly crying.

Heero held the gun against his left temple.

"No -"

Duo's scream and the gunshot reverberated in the room.

Duo fell to his knees and stared at Heero's body.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Fifteen

He hadn't eaten in sixteen hours. Just two of those damn protein ration bars Wufei had somehow smuggled into his rucksack.

They felt rough, coming back up, scraping his throat, scratching against the burn of bile and Trowa felt himself choking as he vomited.

He was used to death, his earliest memories were of corpses. He knew the smell of death, knew the warm, wet cling of blood that slowly grew cold, knew the weight of lifelessness.

It didn't make him ill, it didn't affect him. Only once - that rare mission when he and Duo had been undercover together, right when the riots first started, and a colonial MP had been torched, burned alive in his polyester uniform and the scent had both he and Duo retching, dry-heaving until they were doubled over, unable to protect the man because they were undercover, posing as rioters, as terrorists to gain the trust of one of the better organized rebel groups.

But Heero's body. Heero's death.

Trowa's stomach heaved again. His throat convulsed and his eyes burned.

"Drink."

Wufei was at his side, leaning against the sink, staring down at Trowa as he knelt in front of the toilet.

Trowa accepted the bottled water with trembling hands.

Wufei's eyes were black, fathomless, and Trowa wanted - needed - to lose himself in those dark depths.

He stood, slowly, and flushed the toilet.

Wufei stepped aside and allowed him to rinse out his mouth.

"We need to find Duo."

Trowa felt his gut churn at the name. And that gruesome scene replayed in his mind again. Heero's body falling. The gun skittering across the floor. Duo on his knees.

He needed a minute - needed an hour. Hell, he needed a _lifetime_ to process this shit. But Wufei wouldn't give it to him.

"How?" He croaked out, not caring about the rawness of his voice.

Wufei held his gaze in the mirror, his eyes merciless.

"He gave us the files. He wanted us to know."

Trowa had to agree. And it - it made him question every damn thing that had happened in the last three years. All of it, all of his knowledge and logic was unravelling and _why_? What was the fucking _point_ of all of this?

"So he knows. He knows we'll look for him. Where would we find him?"

It wouldn't be with the Sweepers. Duo wouldn't risk that - and besides, Howard had threatened to kill Trowa if he came around asking about his precious spacer rat again. Howard had called Trowa an imbecile, had claimed Duo would never kill Heero, would sooner kill himself - and Trowa had written him off as a sentimental old man.

It wouldn't be with Hilde. Trowa had tried there too, and she had coldly informed him that Duo hadn't spoken to her in two and a half years and frankly, they were all better off not thinking about him again.

It wouldn't be at that same dive Trowa had found him at last time. Duo was too cautious for that.

A memory tugged at him. A whispered confession one night when they were both drunk, giddy with adrenaline after surviving a close call and Heero had been away on a mission, not around to temper their inclinations to drink far too much when they couldn't deal with their emotions in a more productive way.

"I know." Trowa said, and he finally looked away from Wufei's gaze. "I know where we'll find him."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Sixteen

It took six days.

Wufei had posted himself across the square, rented a room above a convenience store that was a front for a drug ring and Trowa knew his partner was itching to bust them, to shut it down and arrest the middle-aged men who passed off packages of candy to twelve-year olds to deliver on the streets.

But he didn't. Wufei sat in the room and he watched and he waited.

Trowa had never cared much for hats. He didn't like the way they cut into his circulation, the cramped compression against his skull. After six days of wearing the same black beanie, shoving his hair under it, he was convinced his hair was going to be permanently fucked, with a line across his skull and his bangs twisted at an odd angle that made Wufei smirk. It was something, Trowa supposed, to see that smirk and feel Wufei tug on his hair. It was something, the firm press of Wufei's body against his own, his hot mouth, his tight ass drawing Trowa deep into his body.

Trowa wouldn't, couldn't call it comfort. He was a soldier, and he wasn't used to comfort. It wasn't want that drove him into Wufei's lean, dangerous body. It was need. Wufei was an anchor, the only reason, the only real thing that let Trowa hold himself together because the rest of his fucking universe had fallen apart and was impossible to understand, impossible to put back together.

He hadn't shaved since the morning he had finally found Duo in that diner, and after two weeks there was enough stubble on his jaw and around his mouth that surveillance cameras wouldn't be able to scan his face easily. Enough that Wufei bitched about it when they kissed, when Trowa rubbed his face across his chest and left Wufei's nipples sore.

The beanie, the beard and the tinted glasses he wore were enough to render him unrecognizable to anyone looking for Trowa Barton. But they were both confident Duo would know him.

Who else would sit on the bench beside the Maxwell Church memorial for six nights, waiting?

In retrospect, Trowa should have known Duo wouldn't go for it. Wouldn't accept the gesture as an apology or be willing to meet on Trowa's terms. He should have anticipated Duo doing this his way.

He should have, but when he came back to the room after his sixth fruitless night on the bench, he hadn't expected to find Wufei and Duo sitting in the room waiting for him. Sharing tea.

Duo sat straddling a chair backwards, chin propped on the back, tea in one hand and his other dangling loosely.

He looked up at Trowa's entrance, and there was no mistaking the sudden tension in his body. He hadn't moved, hadn't shifted even an inch, but he transformed in an instant.

Trowa closed the door behind himself and pulled off his jacket. He tossed it onto the floor, earning a scowl from Wufei. He was more careful removing the glasses, crossing the room and setting them down on the desk beside Wufei's laptop.

He noticed it was open, noticed that something was downloading.

At last he pulled off the beanie, and he swore to himself he wouldn't wear the damn thing ever again.

Duo was staring at him, mouth open and eyes wide.

"Dude. Your hair is so fucked up."


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Seventeen

Wufei insisted they eat, muttered something about Duo looking too thin and threatened to dismember Duo if he even thought of making some kind of house-wife or motherly instinct comment for caring.

So they went to a diner, not unlike the one Trowa had found Duo at the first time, and as they sat down Trowa could hear Duo's words.

_You've survived self-destructing your Gundam, two wars, Wufei's cooking - Relena's birthday parties._

This wasn't Wufei's cooking, but as soon as Wufei had suggest food, Trowa's brain had gone down that path, had recalled Duo's plea. It had been two years since Duo said those words. Trowa wondered if he still remembered them.

Tea all around, after Duo mumbled something about the coffee being worse than Prev sludge.

He still looked tired, exhausted on a level that had nothing to do with sleep, and now that Trowa wasn't looking at him as an opponent, as an enemy to strike, he could see just how different Duo was from the man he had been.

His eyes were red-rimmed, and Trowa wouldn't dare suggest it was because he had been crying, but he nonetheless looked drained of emotion and purpose and Trowa felt some of his anger return.

By the time the meal was over he was seething, and when Wufei closed the door on their rented room and locked it, Trowa had had enough.

Duo's dead eyes and his inane conversation with Wufei about local government officials and _maybe_ there was a reason he was telling Wufei about the mayor's niece untying all of the balloons at his birthday and sending them up, but Trowa doubted it. And even if there was, it had nothing to do with Heero.

He shoved Duo against the wall and Duo reacted instantly, his hands lifting to clench Trowa's own as they dug into his sweater.

Wufei stepped forward, but he didn't try to intervene.

Duo stared at him, blue eyes red-rimmed and Trowa felt a rage so profound it was hard for him to breathe.

"I know," Duo whispered. He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing furiously. "I know, Trowa." He bowed his head. "I killed him. The one time he needed me to get _him_ out and I failed him. I let them - I killed him."

Trowa heard the words, heard the despair and self-loathing in Duo's voice. But all he could think about was Heero.

He wasn't the only one who had spent the last two years hating Duo, it seemed.

Trowa released him and stepped away.

"He killed himself," Trowa said coldly, shoving his rage down deep, letting it motivate him. "He made the choice and he did it himself. Don't you dare take that away from him. He rebelled - he fought. You failed him, but he managed to save himself in the end."


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Eighteen

It was Wufei who punched him.

It was Duo who hauled Wufei off of Trowa and stood between them, blue eyes wide even though his mouth was set in a firm, grim line, one calloused palm pressed against Trowa's chest, another hovering an inch from Wufei's.

"I know," Duo repeated, holding Trowa's angry gaze. "I know he did. He fought those bastards the only way he could and I _know_ that was his choice and it's fucking insane that he was able to make it. That he was able to do any of it." Duo swallowed hard. "I wasn't able to do anything for him. Not then."

Oh.

So that's what this was.

The reason Duo had let Trowa catch him. The reason Duo had downloaded the files onto Wufei's computer. The reason Duo had shown up for a tea party with Wufei.

Trowa remembered that night, six months after the end of the first war, when he'd come back to his trailer after a performance with the circus and Duo had been sitting there in the dark, playing with one of Catharine's knives.

Trowa had always wondered what it would be like, a fight between him and Duo hand to hand, when they were both healthy, both desperate to live. But Duo had surprised him.

Had told Trowa he understood. The mission. The war. Trowa had done what he had to do. Couldn't have helped him, not then. Not that day in the cell and maybe Duo hated him, for being there, but maybe Duo had needed him there too, had needed Trowa's bruising grip on his wrists and his green eyes looking back at him because it meant he wasn't alone. But that had been then.

Now Trowa could do something, and he would do something.

And Trowa had. He'd packed a bag, made a pathetic excuse to Catharine, promised to come back soon, and he'd followed Duo on his quest for vengeance. It had been the opposite of Heero's walkabout during the war. Duo didn't go to his victims and offer them the chance to kill him, didn't ask for forgiveness. No, Duo was in the victim in this, and Trowa helped him track down the seven men who had been there that night, only seven because two had died in the war and Duo had already killed one on his own before coming to Trowa.

He wasn't proud of the things he had done as a soldier. He wasn't proud of the lives he had taken or the destruction he had wrought. But he was a soldier, he did what was necessary. He held down a comrade while he was gang raped by the enemy because he had to - because whatever pain Duo experienced was nothing compared to the pain of Alliance control over the colonies. He held down those enemies while Duo castrated them. He did what was necessary and it didn't make the world a better place. Sure as hell didn't make him a hero.

But it kept things in balance.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Nineteen

"You let Trowa find you," Wufei realized.

Duo nodded, but his gaze was still locked with Trowa's.

"I could have killed you," Trowa realized. He could have killed Duo and never even known the truth of what happened to Heero.

Duo gave him a smirk, a "sure you could have" look.

Trowa narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah," Duo admitted. "That part of my plan didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped. I was sort of hoping to be tying _you_ up and calling Wufei to come rescue you."

Wufei arched an eyebrow.

"That was quite a gamble."

Duo stepped back from Trowa, dropping his hands down to his sides and shrugging.

"Yeah, he said again, "but it's not like I had much to lose and I needed you two. I… I can't do this thing along."

"How did you get the intel?" Trowa asked.

"Some of it was before - Heero and I did a fair bit of hacking the Futurum databases. The rest… we'd already established a window into their firewall so it wasn't that hard for me to collect the data, the feeds from what they did to him."

"How did they get him in the first place?" Wufei asked, and Trowa was glad. He wouldn't have been able to ask the question without it sounding like he was blaming Duo for that already.

Duo sighed and looked between them, as if judging their ability to hear what he had to say.

"You guys haven't watched all of the feeds yet, have you?"

Trowa shook his head, as did Wufei.

"Only - only until Heero's death," Wufei said. "I wasn't sure the other ones mattered."

Duo arched an eyebrow at Trowa.

"And you wanted to rush off after me as soon as you saw that one, right?"

"It was Wufei's idea to track you down," Trowa defended himself.

Duo smirked.

"Yeah. You were supposed to be the one who watched all of them and pieced it all together."

"Why me?"

"Because I'm almost positive I know who's behind all of this, but I can't be certain. I need you to watch the last feeds and tell me if it's - tell me if it's really him."

Trowa glanced towards the laptop, at the files that had finished downloading while they ate and fought.

"We can look at that stuff after," Duo said, and his voice was soft. "I just need to make sure I'm not crazy, that it's really - we need to watch the other feeds first."

"Wait," Wufei stopped Trowa from going to the laptop.

They both looked at him.

"I know that this isn't… this certainly isn't as important as figuring out what happened to Heero and avenging him or putting a stop to Futurum, but I think the two of you need to talk. There is too much bad blood between you - too much about Heero that you haven't admitted to."

"Want us to go find a therapist and talk about our feelings?" Duo asked, his mouth twisted into a disdainful sneer.

"No," Wufei said and there was anger in his voice. "I want the two of you to admit that you've been wrong and that you've fucked up and figure out how you can move from it. I'm not going to help _either_ of you do anything else until I can trust that you won't let the past affect you anymore."

Trowa scowled. Wufei was right. Trowa might no longer want to murder Duo, but he was still having a hard time listening to him and not thinking about everything that had happened.

"So how far back are we going?" Duo asked. "You gonna make Trowa apologize for blowing up my Gundam?"

Wufei glared at him and looked ready to snap, but the question startled a laugh out of Trowa.

Duo looked at him, his lips tipping up just slightly, and it reminded Trowa that once, once they had been friends.

It was an old joke between them - they had been partnered together for their very first Preventers mission, and Une had kept a watchful eye on them during the mission planning phase, convinced that they were going to rip each other's throats out. Things had been tense, that first time, when they still didn't know each other that well, and it was only when they started to work out together, running and sparring together, that things had eased. Every time they sparred, whenever Duo landed his first punch on Trowa of the match, he would always say "that was for my Gundam."

But that had been before. And a lot had happened between before and now.

"What happened between you and Heero?" Trowa had to know.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twenty

Duo stepped away, shoved his hands in his pockets and took a few steps towards the bed, stopped, looked at it and sighed and then turned back to meet Trowa's glare.

"We fucked," he admitted, "once. Just one time."

Trowa arched an eyebrow, waiting for more, because one time wasn't what he had thought, but it wasn't nothing.

Duo drew in a deep breath, glanced over at Wufei, maybe looking for support, but he found none.

"We'd heard things about those riots - the _alleged_ riots and we went to investigate. We went to the colony. We… fuck, we saw the cover-up, watched them decompose the bodies and it was some really, really bad shit, Trowa. We'd gotten on-colony by stowing away on a cargo freighter and we joined a work crew and we had -" Duo ran a hand over his mouth, as if he could scrub away the words and the memories. "It was one time and it was the only fucking thing that kept either of us sane and it wasn't right," he added swiftly when he saw Wufei open his mouth, "I know it wasn't right. And I can't say it didn't mean anything because it did but it didn't mean - it didn't mean what you thought it did, Trowa. He never wanted me. It was always you, Trowa - you were always the only one he loved. I was just… I was just someone who wasn't crazy, one night when we both needed to know there was someone else there."

It didn't really explain what Trowa had seen in the locker, Heero kissing the palm of Duo's hand, but then again, maybe it did. It wasn't as if Duo would lie to him - not about this, not about Heero. And they had always been close, Heero and Duo and maybe…

Duo offered Trowa a sad smile.

"If it helps, he never forgave me or himself for it. For ruining what he had with you."

It didn't help, actually. It somehow made it that much worse. If everything just been one stupid time, one moment that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things but one moment that had led them to this place, this room, on this colony, planning revenge for Heero's murder because of _one time_ and all of the misunderstandings, the silences, all of the shit since had led to this.

"You never said anything to me," Wufei spoke up, his voice a soft reprimand.

Duo shrugged and Trowa remembered that once, once Duo and Wufei had been friends too. Once, the two of them had gone out drinking together after days spent at the shooting range while Heero and Trowa went home and spent hours in bed together.

"It was wrong, what I did, and I fucked up everything. You stopped trusting me - Trowa stopped - I fucked everything up. It's not like I had a decent explanation or any kind of excuse that meant shit. There was no point in saying anything to you. You wanted to rip my throat out for betraying Trowa, remember?"

Wufei frowned, looked away and sighed.

"I would have listened."

"No," Duo said and he didn't sound quite so apologetic now. "You wouldn't have. You didn't listen when we tried to tell you about the riots and you were too wrapped up in disappointment over what I did to see past it and - no. You wouldn't have."

Wufei opened his mouth, ready to argue the point, but then he closed it and Trowa could see that he recognized the truth in Duo's words.

Duo looked back to Trowa, his blue eyes searching.

"I never wanted to take him away from you, Tro."


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twenty One

"What happened after?"

Wufei's question startled both Duo and Trowa, tore them out of the stare they had been sharing, and Trowa was grateful. Desperate to have any reason to look away from Duo's blue eyes, to set aside his apology, his plea, and focus on _anything_ besides forgiveness.

"After we fucked?" Duo asked, the frown on his face making it clear he thought Wufei should already know the answer to that.

Wufei glared and crossed his arms.

"_No_. After you left. How did we go from there to _here_?"

"Oh."

Duo swallowed hard and sighed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and shrugged.

Trowa felt some old part of himself react to that shrug, that slight lift of Duo's shoulders that meant he felt insignificant and impotent. The shrug of dead civilians and Une telling Duo he had done all he could. The shrug of children starving and Quatre telling Duo there were only so many problems he could solve.

Trowa ran a hand through his hair and then sat down on the bed beside Duo.

Duo slanted a look over at him, and maybe he remembered the time when Trowa had hauled him out of Une's office, had dragged him into the nearest toilet and locked the door and gripped Duo's shoulders hard enough to leave bruises until Duo relented, until that blank look and the careless shrug were gone and Duo's fingers dug into Trowa's back, curled around his flesh and held on as if there was nothing else to anchor him to Earth.

Duo drew in a deep breath and looked towards Wufei.

"We tracked down a few of the crew - from the clean-up on the colony? Talked to them, followed the money. They were all independent contractors and it was fucking complicated and you know how patient Heero is so -"

"Was," Trowa couldn't help but correct.

Duo swallowed hard and nodded.

"Yeah. Was." He cleared his throat. "It took us a few months and then we traced it all back to Futurum." He sighed. "And the company is fucking rich as hell and their server security was impossible to get past so we decided to break into one of their labs."

"And Heero was captured," Wufei suggested.

Duo scowled.

"No - Heero Yuy? Captured? No. That fucking bastard _convinced_ Heero to join their fucking science experiment."

Wufei looked as confused as Trowa felt.

"What - _who_?" Wufei asked.

Duo ran his hands through his hair.

"I can't believe you didn't finish watching the fucking vids."

"Sorry that the death of my - Heero's death sidetracked me," Trowa bit out. He caught the glance Wufei sent his way, the question in his eyes. Trowa had almost said something that he would never have been able to take back, that Wufei would never have forgiven him for.

But it was clear Wufei knew he had almost said _something_, and that was going to be bad enough, Trowa knew.

He looked away from Wufei and back at Duo.

"Who?"

Duo hesitated.

"That's - watch the vids. I can't be certain but - you actually met the guy, you know what he sounds like, how he talks."

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Wufei demanded.

"Treize Khushrenada."


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twenty Two

They watched the vids.

Wufei accidently started the vid of Heero's death again, but both Trowa and Duo jumped up to stop him and Wufei sat back, looked between them and muttered an apology.

Duo took over at the laptop and set up the right vid, the time stamp just a day after Heero's death.

It was the same feed as before, the same feed of the room Heero had been held in, but the bed was empty this time and the floors - there was a tech on his hands and knees scrubbing at the tile, swirling pink water around.

Two men walked into the room, one another tech, dressed in the same lab coat as all of the others, but the man accompanying him was dressed in a dark suit and a bright, blood red tie. His short blonde hair was immaculately styled and his thin lips twisted into a disdainful sneer when he glanced at the tech on the floor, scrubbing at the blood.

"How did this happen?" The blonde man demanded, his voice betraying an accent, his consonants spoken in that crisp, old Terran aristocratic tone.

"I - we sent over the report."

"And I read it. Your report fails to explain how someone was able to break into this completely secure facility or how you could fail so completely with the patient."

"We - he was a Gundam pilot! He broke into military facilities during the war and we - we aren't a military installation. We didn't anticipate this kind of sabotage."

"And the patient? Can you explain your failure with _him_? Or are you going to use the same excuse - he was a Gundam pilot?"

"We - we didn't fail with him. We were able to contain his emotions. We eliminating his desire and his anger more successfully than we've done with any other patient."

"Yet he _killed himself_. How is that a success?"

The tech looked miserable, fidgeting with the buttons on his lab coat.

"Do you understand what is at stake here? This treatment is the only hope for humanity. He was supposed to be the example that would convince ESUN to support this! He was supposed to be proof that we could succeed."

"But - but we can succeed! We will! We've already re-engineered the release system after the setbacks on L 3458. We've adjusted the levels and we know we can have a gradual system introduction this time."

"And yet this patient _killed himself._ Are we going to see the next release phase result in the mass suicide of an entire colony?"

The tech shook his head.

"Of course not! This patient - he was a Gundam pilot! He had previous suicidal tendencies and he had a weapon. This will not happen again."

"You're willing to stand in front of the board and say that? You're willing to stake the entire future of humanity on your opinion?"

The tech grimaced, but then he nodded.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Good. The board meets tomorrow. Be prepared to deliver your report and initiate the next stages of testing."


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twenty Three

"I need a minute," Wufei said and stood up abruptly.

"Was it -"

"I need a minute," Wufei snapped, interrupting Duo's question.

Trowa frowned and looked up at him, at the tense line of Wufei's shoulders, the sharp angles of the shoulder blades nearly cutting through the thin material of his shirt.

Wufei walked out of the room and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Duo arched an eyebrow at Trowa.

Trowa sighed and stood up.

He hesitated.

Wufei would have followed Trowa into the bathroom, would have shoved the door open and held his gaze until Trowa gave in.

But Trowa was not Wufei, and Wufei was not Trowa. He knew he wouldn't be welcome in that room. He knew that when Wufei said he needed a minute, he desperately needed a minute.

Duo, thankfully, stayed silent.

It was more like five minutes, with only the sound of running water, two sharp, sudden thumps that sounded like Wufei's fist making contact with something inflexible.

The bathroom door opened and Wufei stepped out, water beaded on his face, his eyes slightly wild. He walked into the bedroom and picked up the jacket that Trowa had discarded again. He pulled it on, and walked out of the room.

"He just took your jacket," Duo said, probably _had_ to say something after so much silent tension.

"Yes, he did," Trowa agreed to the obvious.

Duo, sitting on the desk chair, plucked at Wufei's jacket, draped over the back.

Trowa shook his head and ran his hands through his hair.

"I don't know, Duo."

Duo sighed.

"It was him, wasn't it?"

Trowa hadn't been around Treize much, wasn't nearly as familiar with him as Wufei had been, but the man in the vids - it was Treize or it was an impeccably talented actor.

"I think so," he allowed.

Duo nodded. He didn't seem surprised, didn't seem relieved or disappointed.

Trowa frowned.

"This has been about Wufei the entire time," he realized. "You needed him."

Duo shrugged.

"No one else knows how Treize's brain works - well, no one else except Une."

And Une would have shot Duo on sight sooner than -

Une.

Une had been the one to tell Trowa that Duo had murdered Heero. Une had been the one to give him the folder of intel on Duo the day that Trowa turned in his badge and walked out of the Preventers HQ for the last time.

"I have no idea if she's involved," Duo said, reading his mind.

He'd been doing that for years - it had gotten to the point that they used to have entire one sided conversations during mission briefs, annoying the shit out of whatever poor suit had been assigned to go over the details with them. Trowa had forgotten about that too.

"What do you know?" Trowa asked and he was proud of how even he kept his voice.

"I know Winner Inc. owns forty-five percent of Futurum and I know that Une wiped Heero's security clearance within hours of his death - before I'd even gotten off colony."

Trowa sighed and he laid back on the bed.

Quatre.

He'd known, he'd had a suspicion at the back of his mind, ever since he sat across the desk from the blonde man and tried to warn him about Duo.

It was two hours before Wufei came back.

Both Trowa and Duo regarded him warily as Wufei took off Trowa's jacket and draped it on the dresser.

Wufei paced and Trowa could practically taste his anger and frustration, his _rage_ at knowing that Treize Khushrenada was still alive.

Finally, Wufei stopped pacing and he stared at Duo.

"All of this happened two years ago."

Duo nodded in agreement.

"They spoke about the next phase. The tech said that they had adjusted the formula - that they were ready for the next stages of testing."

Duo nodded again.

"They've already done it, haven't they?"


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: I think it's time to start pointing out that I am borrowing the idea of Pax Ultima from Serenity and their Pax drug. Didn't want to give that away before now. But… now that we are here, I want to acknowledge the awesome source material I'm stealing from.

Warnings: Angst, violence, language, sex

Pairings: If you need to know, please PM me and I will be happy to tell you.

Chapter Twenty Four

"So, as far as bad ideas go, I just want to go on the record and say this is one of them. One of the worst."

Trowa was surprised at how much resistance Duo was putting up against Wufei's demand that they visit M4112.

But for the last three days, as they made arrangements, as they packed up and colony hopped three times before finally catching the shuttle that would take them to the colony, Duo argued against the idea.

Wufei had just met Duo's arguments with a stony glare, unwilling to budge on this.

Trowa wasn't sure why it mattered so much to Wufei, to see the colony, to see what had happened, but he figured that Wufei, of all of them, had a clearer vision of how to proceed.

And if Wufei wanted to go to M4112 and risk all of their lives, then Trowa would follow him.

As would Duo, it seemed, bitching all the way.

"Don't eat or drink anything," Duo instructed as their shuttle docked at the port on M4112. We know they changed the formula so it's not airborn but -"

"Stop talking about it or you'll draw attention to us," Wufei snapped.

Duo shut up and looked over at Trowa, who just shrugged. He was more than happy to let Wufei lead this suicidal expedition. And he certainly wasn't going to take _Duo's_ side on this - or on anything else.

Trowa wasn't sure what he had been expecting. Maybe mindless zombies roving the streets of the colony, banging into walls, staring ahead lifelessly.

But that wasn't what they walked into.

As soon as they stepped off of the shuttle Trowa was struck by how completely normal M4112 was.

It looked just like any other small manufacturing colony. The people - they looked normal. And maybe the security guard who checked their fake papers had a dead, glassy look in his eyes as he shuffled through them, but Trowa was positive it was related to his boredom with work and not something else, not something sinister.

Wufei seemed just as unimpressed as he scanned over the people, as he looked for some kind of sign.

And Duo just looked anxious, ready to run or fight at the drop of a hat.

"Let's check into the hotel and then we can do recon," Wufei said.

Trowa picked a fight with the desk clerk, bitched about getting put in the suite they had reserved instead of two rooms and the clerk was polite and profusely apologetic when he informed Trowa that there were no additional rooms.

"Thus far, all we can ascertain is that the 'port security guards are bored and the hotel desk clerk is polite," Wufei said as soon as they finished sweeping the suite for any surveillance devices.

Duo stood by the window, arms folded across his chest, a fierce scowl on his face.

"So what if that's all it is? What if they tweaked the formula so much that all it does is make you polite?"

Wufei frowned.

"You mean you don't know?"

Duo glared.

"I know exactly as much as you do at this point - I gave you all the intel I had, including my files on this place. Futurum considers it a successful _deployment_. So I don't know - maybe this is it."

"Politeness doesn't stop a war from happening," Trowa murmured, knowing he needed to intervene before Duo and Wufei got into a full blown argument. "Quatre said they had a way to stop psychopaths from ever murdering again - this isn't enough."

Both Wufei and Duo stared at him.

Trowa sighed.

"I'm tired." He felt like he hadn't slept well in years, but these last few weeks had been especially rough. "I need to sleep and then we can make a plan."

"I'm going out now," Duo announced. "We're here. I'm not just going to sit back and nap."

Trowa glared at him, but Wufei nodded.

"I'll go with you. Better to stick together."

Trowa sighed.

So much for his rest.

"No, stay. Sleep. If we're not back in three hours you should get off planet."

Despite the fact that Wufei was unimpressed by the effects of Pax Ultima on the populace, he was clearly still anxious enough about this whole thing to plan for disaster.

Trowa nodded in agreement and sat down on the bed.

Duo and Wufei grabbed their jackets, grabbed guns and knives and hid them on their bodies and then they left.

It took Trowa almost half an hour to fall asleep, and when he did, he dreamed about Duo screaming, his mouth dripping blood and Wufei's naked, golden body drifting through space.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: And you thought I'd forgotten about this fic.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex

Chapter Twenty-Five

They were gone for two and a half hours. Just long enough for Trowa, who had slept for maybe an hour and woken up the worse for it, to start thinking the worst.

Duo walked in first, eyes going from the empty bed to the desk, where Trowa sat in front of Wufei's computer.

His face was tense.

Wufei's, on the other hand, was annoyed.

He stepped into the room after Duo, locked the door, and headed right for the bathroom.

Trowa arched an eyebrow at Duo.

The braided man shrugged, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Trowa did not like being left in suspense. He rose from the desk and crossed to the bathroom, but the door was locked.

"What happened?" Trowa asked, irritated that he had to ask.

"Nothing," Duo sighed.

Trowa watched him toe off his boots and run his hands through his hair.

He looked, Trowa couldn't help but think, a little the worse for wear.

"Nothing?"

Duo nodded, but didn't elaborate.

Wufei finally came out of the bathroom, and he startled at Trowa leaning against the wall beside the door.

Trowa gave him a long, steady look.

"It doesn't _feel_ right," Wufei muttered. "This place, these people. Nothing feels _right_, but there's nothing wrong."

Duo nodded, remaining uncharacteristically silent.

"What?" Trowa demanded. He had slept exactly long enough to make him want _more_ sleep, and he knew it was making him short-tempered.

He also didn't care.

This whole damn _thing_ made him short-tempered.

"Maybe…" Duo scrubbed his face. "Fuck. This whole time I was- it was just _me_ in this, and I was so fucking sure that- what if, what if it's just _this_? What if it's just people being a little too nice and a little too willing to ignore assholes? Is that-"

"Heero _died_ because of this," Wufei interrupted Duo, his voice implacable. "Heero died. Catharine died. Entire colonies have been wiped out because of this. This is _not_ all that it is. This is _murder_, Duo, and there needs to be justice."

"Even if all Quatre and Treize have done is make people _nicer_?" Duo and Wufei were locked in a glaring match. "And how the fuck are we- what are _we_ going to do? March into Une's office and say 'hey, we found out that your ex-boyfriend and Quatre are conspiring the make humans _nice_ to each other. You should do something about that.' Assuming she isn't in on it in the first fucking place."

"You're that willing to just let them get away with it?" Trowa asked.

Duo gave him a bitter look. "I didn't say that." He scrubbed his face again, and he looked every bit as worn and weary as he had the day that Trowa had finally caught up to him.

"Take a shower. Get some rest," he said to both of them. "I'm going out."

Wufei shook his head, a belligerent expression on his face, and stepped in front of him.

"No. You're not going out alone. Not-"

"Yes, I am. Now move."

Wufei glared at him, not budging.

Trowa sighed and shoved past him, catching the surprised look and the frown on Duo's face before he schooled his features into a blank mask.

"I'll be back in six hours."

-o-


End file.
